Bangkok, 15-16 May 2023: The Global CCS Institute (GCCSI) in cooperation with Ministry of Energy Thailand and ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), organised the first South East Asia CCS Accelerator (SEACA) workshop. To help the ASEAN create a transition to a low-carbon energy future and tackle climate change, SEACA aspires to accelerate commercial CCS deployment in the region.

SEACA is built on three pillars that are crucial to the development of CCS projects: CCS Regulation, Enabling Policy, and Geological Storage Resource Development. The Global CCS Institute launched the Southeast Asia CCS Accelerator (SEACA), a platform for collaboration between governments and the respective agencies, international organizations, private sectors, and governments of developed economies with an interest in CCS in ASEAN to achieve net-zero emission target by deploying CCS technology.

Jakarta, 21 February 2023: Applying existing and affordable fuels and energy technologies to expand the use of natural gas is one way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That was the gist of the message delivered by Prof Hidetoshi Nishimura, President of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), at a workshop on Prospects of a Natural Gas Market in the East Summit (EAS) Region Amidst Carbon Neutrality Pledges and Geopolitical Tensions. Held at Fairmont Hotel in Jakarta, the workshop was sponsored by ERIA and the Gas Exporting Country Forum (GECF).

Prof Nishimura said that decarbonising energy systems requires the rapid scaling up of existing cleaner energy sources and technologies with essential support for policy, fiscal, and monetary incentives, and appropriate market design.

Delivering the workshop’s opening remarks was H.E. Eng Mohamed Hamel, GECF’s Secretary General, who forecast that in the ASEAN region, natural gas demand was expected to more than double, rising to more than 350 billion cubic metres by 2050.

H.E. Mr Arifin Tasrif, Indonesia’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, citing the country’s natural gas potential, said that the challenges are developing the infrastructure connecting the pipeline from western to eastern Indonesia, and creating a new policy framework to attract investment into the natural gas market. He mentioned that the use of natural gas has diversified into the fertiliser, petrochemical, and glass industries, amongst others.